News - Restore Independent Police Commission: TISL

A research study conducted by Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has identified a number of causes for police corruption in the country and presented recommendations for addressing the situation while emphasising the need for improved police-community relations for the betterment of each other

TISL in its report also urged for the restoration of the independence of the National Police Commission by first appointing members to the Constitutional Council.

The report of the research study by the TISL was released on Wednesday at the BMICH. As a part of the project, a survey on ‘Attitudes towards good policing’ was conducted - which was twofold – first involving the police (Provider Survey and second involving the public (Public Attitude Survey)

Some of the vulnerable areas of police corruption identified through the TISL research are; failure to arrest and prosecute suspects who have violated the law, agreeing to drop an inquiry or an investigation prematurely and refraining from inspecting locations or premises where violations of law and order are known to have occurred.

It was also noted in the report that police engage in corruption by reducing the seriousness of a charge, providing selected people with more police protection or presence than is normally desirable, misappropriation of public property and also arranging access to confidential departmental records or altering such records. “It is in the course of investigations that the police most often face the problem of corruption which is due to political or other hierarchical intimidation and thus where the police are instructed not to pursue investigations, files are closed for ‘lack of evidence’.

“Interviews with senior police officials also revealed that in certain instances police in charge of police investigations are ignorant of the law relating to prosecutions and sometimes and unlawfully obtain evidence which is inadmissible”, the report added

Interviews conducted by TISL have shown that police stations had insufficient human resources and it noted that this was not often due to the lack of officers but due to the fact that though there were many officers they were often busy with VIP security and didn’t have adequate time for other duties”.

Despite the existence of a procedural mechanism to police promotions, findings reflect a different situation which raises huge concerns with the majority having shown dissatisfaction over it. Only 39.4 percent interviewed said they had been promoted after joining service.

It’s revealed that an overwhelming 60.2 percent were dissatisfied with the present promotion scheme that prevails in the Police Department.

Some 63.8 percent of policemen the TISL interviewed with regard to their transfers have said they were dissatisfied, 26.6 said they were satisfied with the present, while 9.6 were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the same.

TISL survey has also further revealed that 42.7 percent of police officers have agreed to some extent and 24.8 of police officers have agreed that it was permissible to violate human rights to some extent for the purpose of prosecuting a criminal who is a danger to society.

An aptitude survey among 1,400 randomly selected members of the public has also indicated that a majority as much as 72 percent of those questioned believed that it was very important to have a separate children’s / women’s section to attend to their issues.

Reasons for police not being able to prevent corruption have been identified as lack of resources and training, political influence, lack of support from higher ranking officers and also support from public.

The research has indicated that the public are generally afraid to tip-off the police on illegal activities happening in their neighbourhood as they do not trust the police. Interviews done with members of the public revealed that they feared that police officers in cahoots with the alleged criminals would reveal their identity exposing them to reprisals and threats.

Recommendations by the TISL to improve the police services touch aspects such as recruitment, structure, training, promotions, transfers, salaries, rewards and punishments and disciplinary procedure.

The report has recommended that quality and qualifications should be taken into consideration when policemen are recruited. It has also been noted that no training courses for policemen are conducted in Tamil which can be highlighted as a huge lacuna in the system. It has recommended that training programs in Tamil should be conducted.